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Leaving Garden Valley Chapel

13_03_Resurrection-Sunday_087web
Fellow shepherd Tyson Steward to my left
and fellow servant-leader Ryan Bartels to my right –
beloved co-laborers whom I love (Photo taken on Resurrection Sunday 2013).

This Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, will be six years since I was asked to preach in the pulpit at Garden Valley Chapel. Sadly, it will also mark the last Sunday I will step up to the pulpit as the teaching shepherd at GVC. For months now I have been weighing the difficult decision to leave GVC and pursue further study at The Master’s Seminary, where I graduated in 2006.

I sought the counsel of some 16 men in my life, most of whom are involved in full-time ministry, to help me think through this heart-breaking decision. I cannot tell you how many times I prayed to the Lord for his will to be revealed to me through the night watches. For this reason I sought Psalm 25 which is a prayer of David for guidance. If you haven’t read it recently, I would encourage you to read this short psalm as David pleads for divine guidance in the midst of opposing darkness.

As I have relayed this to our church body, there have been many tears, but I have been encouraged by the people’s response for me to be obedient to God’s leading in my life. My oldest son, Isaiah, had the hardest time coming to grip with the decision his daddy had made. Thankfully, the Lord provided me with words that assured him that this is the way to leave a church body, with much love in your heart.

In the near future, I plan to attend Grace Academy, whose goal is to provide leadership for developing churches, for eight weeks during the months of June and July. I am thankful to the Lord that GVC has decided to help our family with a bit of the financial responsibilities in the coming months. Please pray that the Lord provides me with work in the meantime.

Lord willing, we will be moving on Friday, April 25 from the parsonage and arriving in Santa Clarita on Saturday, April 26. The pitstop in Merced that Friday night will provide us with an opportunity to break the trip in half and give some needful rest. Below is our new contact info:

23705 Valle del Oro, Apt. #101

Newhall, CA 91321-3188

Our new home phone will be installed on Monday, April 28th: 661-753-3252.

Please let us know, either by e-mail or message, if you are willing and able to help us move out or move in on those dates. Blessings.

Meet the Ferrer Family

Ferrer Family 2013
Ferrer Family 2013

Grant Ferrer was a 21-year-old college student in Florida, studying to be a pilot, when he became a Christian. He obtained all his pilot licenses and became a gliding instructor when God called him to be a missionary. In 1980 he worked with Operation Mobilization for a summer, then he was in a discipleship intern program at Fairhaven Bible Chapel in San Leandro, California, under Gene Gibson and Bill MacDonald.

In 1981, Grant and Kandy were married, and in 1982, Fairhaven sent them to Cataluña, Spain where they worked with Daniel Gonzalez (Cursos Biblicos, Barcelona), planting two churches in Figueres and Rosas, Spain. While Grant and Kandy were home on furlough in 1991, Grant was asked to replace his former mentor Gene Gibson, who had suffered a heart attack, on a trip to Honduras. During his three-week trip, Grant preached 75 times, giving his own messages and interpreting for Jim McCarthy, author of The Gospel According to Rome and other Christian books. Grant was invited to return to Honduras, and after much prayer, he moved there in 1992 with Kandy and their three little girls.

After living in Tegucigalpa for two years, God led the Ferrers to plant a church in Valle de Angeles with a Honduran couple. After eight years there, the church sent them to Managua, Nicaragua in 2003, to work with Helen Goatley to start a church in the capital city.

Honduras Map

Last year, Grant and Kandy returned to Valle de Angeles just as the church was about to start another church in Santa Lucia. God has greatly prospered those efforts asthere is now a church planting effort in the nearby villages of Sauce and Macueliso, and the church in Nicaragua is still going strong with good leadership. Grant trains men to minister in their local churches and provides discipleship and evangelism training. Since 1997 (the year the Ferrers’ son Joshua was born), there have been 95 graduates of the Bible Modules discipleship program, which trains men to be leaders in their local churches.

When Kandy was 17, she gave her life to the Lord, and moving to Garden Valley, California, the believers there helped her to grow spiritually. When a missionary visited Garden Valley Chapel, giving a stirring message and an invitation to serve the Lord overseas, Kandy felt called to be a missionary. She attended Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta, Canada, and later she served with Operation Mobilization (OM) for two-and-a-half years in Europe and Asia. She met Grant at OM headquarters in Belgium. Because Kandy had attended monthly missionary prayer meetings at Fairhaven Bible Chapel in San Leandro, Grant had already been praying for her while she was in Asia with OM, as had the believers at Garden Valley Chapel and Contra Costa Christian Community Fellowship. Those three churches are still faithfully supporting Grant and Kandy in their ministry 31 years later.

The Ferrers’ oldest daughter Jessica and her husband Robert Campbell have two children, Robby (5) and Cali (1 1/2), and their family is in fellowship with Fairhaven Bible Chapel. Their middle daughter Susana has been studying at Trinity Seminary for two years and is planning to transfer to Fuller to finish her Master’s degree in intercultural studies. Their youngest daughter Melodi is studying at San Jose State and will graduate in May with a Master’s degree in speech pathology. All three girls were homeschooled through high school. Joshua, 15, went to a Christian school in Managua, then he was homeschooled for two years. He now attends a private high school and carries six subjects in Spanish and six subjects in English. He was baptized about a month ago.

2012 Year End Show

With the close of every year, it has become a custom of ours at GVC to highlight the year in a “Year End Show.” 2012 is the longest and most uplifting one yet as it recounts God’s faithfulness and goodness.

Here are the songs used in this slideshow:
1) “Oh, How Good It Is” by Keith & Kristyn Getty (Hymns for the Christian Life, 2012)
2) “This Good Day” by Fernando Ortega (Home, 2000)
3) “Arrived” by Enfield (O for that day, 2008)
4) “In the Night” by Andrew Peterson (Counting Stars, 2010)

Also I could not have put this slideshow together without the help of some photographers. Thank you Nathan Chilton, Joseph Friedrich, Sarah Macias, Hope Pelster and my lovely bride, Angie, who gathered and organized all 248 photos.